PSA: Obama health plan opponents don't even understand Batman.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for protesting. Go ahead and swarm the Capitol if you want -- we're a democracy, and the grass on the mall isn't a luxurious, healthy green anyway, so there's not much to ruin -- but if you do, just please, please, have some good arguments.

I don't even necessarily support Obama's health care plans, but at least I don't accuse them of being (Hitlerian) fascist, socialist and anarchist all at the same time.

According to the AP, "[Some] signs — reflecting the growing intensity of the health care debate — depicted President Barack Obama with the signature mustache of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Many referred to Obama as a socialist or communist, and another imposed his face on that of the villainous Joker from "Batman."

I've seen the photo of this sign with Obama's face made to look like Heath Ledger's from The Dark Knight; underneath the image appears to be written the single word "socialism."

Now that's just stupid. Everyone knows the Joker wasn't socialist. He was a malignant anarchist, intending to create and encourage chaos and entropy (of governmental order) wherever he went, which is the opposite of socialist.

This means that the creators of that sign not only don't understand socialism, or anarchism: They don't even understand BATMAN.

I'm a cultural studies student, so maybe I have an advantage over the masses, but I'd like to think it's well within range of average American human intelligence to understand the Batman movies. Then again, maybe it's not a problem with interpreting the movie; maybe the difference is that I know better than to think anything at all "bad" can be legitimately referred to as "socialism."

Or maybe it's because I'm a pinko commie that I've taken a second to think about the Joker's politics; maybe when people do things like that, the terrorists win.

Whatever the disconnect here, it's enough to make me not even want to know what these people think would be a better plan. I know better than to engage in dialogue with promiscuous Joker-image users, just like I know better than to make a sign like that when I'm headed off to protest.

Other, presumably more sedate protesters, dressed up in colonial garb to protest, but I also know better than to dress up like I'm fresh off the Mayflower and expect to be taken seriously. Here's a PSA, Sturbridge Village wannabes: The Pilgrims didn't need health care, socialized or otherwise, because they hadn't discovered germs yet.